Support for chief swells

February 8, 2012

Photo by Richard Bastian

A majority of speakers at last night’s Paso Robles City Council meeting voiced support for Police Chief Lisa Solomon amidst allegations of retaliation and sexual misconduct leveled by a half dozen current and former employees.

Prior to opening the council chamber meeting room doors, city staffers placed reserved signs on the first four rows of public seats which were then primarily occupied by city employees and Solomon supporters. A half an hour before the meeting was slated to begin, the council room was filled to capacity and city staffers began telling people attempting to attend that they needed to listen to the meeting in a hallway or reception area.

While more than 200 people chose to stay, many others left before or shortly after the meeting began. Of those who remained, nine spoke in favor of the chief while only three questioned her service to the community. No one mentioned the allegation of sexual misconduct or retaliation.

Several of the speakers seemed ill prepared with one man saying, “I do not know what I am supposed to say,” while looking at an audience member behind him. Shortly afterwards, he left the podium, but first stopped to tell the audience member, “I am sorry.”

While most of the speakers praised the chief as a good friend and neighbor, several attendees standing outside the meeting room questioned her ethics. One former friend of Solomon’s, who said she dated a member of a band Solomon sang with, voiced concerns about Solomon’s behavior while entertaining in the evenings and serving as a police commander during the day.

“She would end her show by strutting across the bar top at the Paso Robles Inn singing “Let’s give them something to talk about,” Wendy McIntire said. “At that time she was a police lieutenant.”

203 Comments

The meeting last night was designed as a show of force and support for Lisa period. Including Lisa, there were about 10 uniformed officers (on our dime) which in my opinion was staged to intimidate the protesters. I also thought that opening statements were usually limited to three minutes and last night was only two although it didn’t make much difference. Remember, a lot of people supported Nixon too. This is just the beginning of the so called investigation. Any coverup that can be proven would result in a disaster for the city mayor, council, manager, chief, etc. I think the crowd in itself was enough to show Senior Picanco that the people are watching this very closely.

Were you there? Since some are attempting to impose a test of worthiness of posting about the meeting to include having been physically at the meeting, perhaps you might also like to “prove” your right to have an opinion about the meeting.

I like your last sentence the best. That is how I have felt the entire time. As a taxpayer, I am watching. I’m not saing (despite all the hysteria from Sewer Gas Cuddy and the like) that she is guilty. What I have been saying and feeling is that if there are things here that warrant an investigation I would like to see one.

My presence there last night as others I think was saying exactly what you said about watching. If there is impropreities then I would like to see if there is any validity to it one way or the other so as a city we can move on. If she is innocent fine I’m good with that but we need to clear the air one way or the other so we can have everybody comfortable that all questions have been answered. Only then will we (city) move on.

Hmmm, I think I went to the wrong meeting…When the gentleman that was refered to said his comment about not knowing what to say, he turned to the mother of the son and said that…She had spoken before that..He said to her, he didn’t know what to say, and that he was so sorry for what she was going thru….However in all this education on the web I have come up with a new word…KeyRoach: Someone who sits at a computer, slamming their keys in contempt of others, calling them names like “Love Child”, and not doing anything to help their community. Oh don’t look it up I made it up this morning while reading posts. I applaud those who went with me and and can’t wait to see them next month. I also want to thank those on these postings whom have had the courage to stand up and risk pointing out facts vs illusions. Oh and if you didn’t get a seat last nite it was simple, I did and I didn’t have to kiss anyones butt. I simply walked in and sat down, I knew it would be packed and got there early so I would get one. In a simple “Love Child” way, Peace….

“McKinney has the enviable task of hiring fun people to join him in the upper echelons of Atascadero city government. His most famous hire was in 1998 when he tapped party animal Dennis Hegwood as the city’s police chief. Hegwood went on to distinguish himself in the finest frat boy manner by getting laid on company time a couple months back, getting accused of rape, quitting his job, then rehiring himself so he could continue defending himself against the charges, while staying in line to get his full retirement.”

“So on Tuesday the Tribune blared “Chief cleared of rape claim” across its front page, something I did with admittedly less fanfare a couple weeks ago in this very column when I wondered why Atascadero Police Chief Dennis Hegwood would risk a quick, illicit diddle at a friend’s house when others were in the next room. And now the district attorney has cleared Hegwood of any criminal charges, thus agreeing with me, which is a first, I think.”

“Then on Wednesday, the Trib called for Hegwood’s resignation, and I thought, Hey, waaaaait a minute-that’s what I was going to do. They went on to cite 30 years of questionable behavior on the part of a police chief who shouldn’t have been hired in the first place. It’s curious that the Trib had all this information going back to Hegwood’s days in Riverside and Rialto, but chose to withhold it from its news stories, presumably to give Tuesday’s editorial some extra oomph. A checkered past filled with reprimands, resignations, and firings seems legitimate fodder for a news story. Well, at least, at New Times. Did I say that? Shut my mouth.”

What I learned from last nights meeting is that’s one thing to blog and another to actually show up and be counted. The protestors failed to voice their concerns.
I heard the mayor ask time and time again if anybody else wanted to come forward to comment, the protestors failed to deliver. The best comment came from the woman whose son died on the RR tracksand her comment had nothing to do with the allegations that brought the protesters to the meeting.

QUOTING ARTICLE: “A half an hour before the meeting was slated to begin, the council room was filled to capacity and city staffers began telling people attempting to attend that they needed to listen to the meeting in a hallway or reception area.

While more than 200 people chose to stay, many others left before or shortly after the meeting began. Of those who remained, nine spoke in favor of the chief while only three questioned her service to the community. No one mentioned the allegations of sexual misconduct or retaliation.

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Since the City of PR used their power and resources to give preferential seating (access) to the government meeting to their friends and supporters, and relegate the protesters to the back of the bus, doesn’t it seem likely that there were more of those relegated to the back of the bus who left than those given preferential access?

This is very similar to the Jim Crow voting laws, where the government made it easier for whites to participate in politics, and very difficult (to illegal) for blacks to participate.

The fact that the City of Paso Robles used staff to do it, and gave preferential seating to their supporters, seals the deal.

MaryMalone – Why don’t you get a life? All you can do is trash people on this blog. Were you there last night? I walked in AFTER 7:00 PM and found a seat almost immediately. You say, ” Relegate the protesters to the back of the bus” WHAT PROTESTORS? I saw a few people wearing red colored clothing, but I don’t think they were protestors. After last night, I formed this opinion about you and many others on the blog: 1. You’re a coward to come forward and put a name and face on all the hatred you’re trying to spread. 2. You have absolutely no concrete evidence regarding the allegations made but because of a simple mind you’ve already reached a conclusion. 3. You were given your chance last night to stand up and be counted yet you did not take advantage of the opportunity. So in short, you were too much of a coward to attend last nights meeting and face off with the Council, App and Chief Solomon, You have no “facts” regarding the sexual assault allegations, nobody does at this time. You basically “Make things up” Protestors relegated to the back of the bus” so why would anyone be interested in your comments? Now are you trying to throw in the race card? “This is very similar to the Jim Crow voting laws, where the government made it easier for whites to participate in politics, and very difficult (to illegal) for blacks to participate.”

I had planned to attend, but I had never planned to wear red. I am sure that there were many protesters there who did not wear red, or didn’t want to be publicly identified as having taken a position challenging the City and its leadership.

It has been reported here in this folder that Solomon was surrounded by TEN of her officers. Did you not get the message of intimidation she sent by that move?

And the supporters who showed up—if you are an employee at PR, or a family member of an employee, or a contractor or vendor, or anybody else who depends on the City of PR’s “leadership” for survival–and you are asked to attend a meeting in support of city management and its police chief, are you going to do anything but say “yes” and show up? In this economy, in a city where retaliation is accepted as part of the human-relations policies?

Even with VIP seating for the PR supporters, they could only get NINE to speak up? The protesters, treated like second-class citizens, were able to get THREE speakers. Considering the overwhelming preferential treatment and support of the supporters by the city, I think the protesters actually bested the city supporters by a good margin.

Again, this demand for the “facts” before voicing an opinion is wrong. You, Cuddy and TQ are placing an unreasonable burden on forming an opinion. Even after a verdict is rendered in a court case, sometimes there are many facts about the case that are never proven and will always be in doubt.

You three demand a high bar be met for us offering our opinions, but your own opinion that we don’t have a right to voice an opinion, has no bar at all. It is your opinion, and for you special three, that is quite enough.

Certainly, before the evidence is presented in court, (and then made public–another hurdle to overcome for the public to be informed of “facts” or even “evidence”) most citizens do not have access to information to be able to prove any of the deductions they have made, based on the information they have available, are “facts.” Yet citizens freely voice their opinions, which are based on their deductions of what they do know.

Yet I–and others–are wrong for following this same method of forming opinions, and voicing them?

Did they have any “facts” about Charles Manson’s role in the Tate-Labianca murders before the public formed opinions?

Did they have any “facts” when the SMPD supervisors set out to take into custody the SMPD officer, Coarrubias?

Certainly, those of us who figured out that GWBush lied about the reasons for the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the presence of WMDs, the docufantasy “Saving Private Lynch,” “The Mysterious Yet Heroic Death of Pat Tillman,” or any other of the many deductions activists made, and continue to make, about both the GWBush and Obama administrations’ foreign military policy and actions—we didn’t have any proven “facts.”

Yet our deductions were based on decades of experience in different political roles. Our deductions were solid and correct. Most importantly, the dissemination of these deductions put public pressure on the course of our foreign policy in the Middle East.

There are witnesses to the sexual assault by Lisa Solomon on a subordinate, with other subordinates as witnesses.

Complaints have been filed by officers on a number of issues. One officer has filed a court case.

CCN sat on the Solomon/City of Paso Robles story for years before getting enough corroboration to believe it was ready to be published.

Have you any belief that CCN is wrong about anything they have published on the PR scandals?

Do you have any believe that CCN has been wrong about a substantial issue before?

Even when there is a minor error, here and there, they have made are acknowledged and corrected, something that cannot be said for the Tribune, certainly.

If you don’t like the actions last night by the City of Paso Robles compared to the back-of-the-bus reality experienced by American citizens in the past, then you need to take that up with the City of Paso Robles. In other words, focus on the message sent by the City of Paso Robles, and not the messenger who pointed it out to you.

Apparently you aren’t aware of the “Nazi Rule”? The first one to make any comparison to Hitler or Nazis or brownshirts loses, period. Make your point without the Nazi reference if you want to not be dismissed out of hand.

I claim bull$hit. The issue is preferential access to a city government meeting depending on whether or not the attendee supports the city and its department heads.

The CITY segregated the meeting: the front, preferential seating was for the loyalists, the “back-of-the-bus” seating (and standing in the hall) was for those critical of the city and its department heads.

That in itself rigged the meeting. To the news attendees and news cameras, those not given the preferential seating appeared disorganized, milling about in the hallway (where they were ordered to go by the city!), etc.

The concept is the same as any segregation and discrimination situation.

Mary, I have a tip for you. The only one on your side of this issue that argues in a reasonable manner and makes some good points is bobfromslo, I wouldn’t alienate him, you need him to sound coherent, the only other others that come close are beentheredonethat and danika (but they’re still wrong). Bob is sane, don’t blown it.

I was sitting by the phone, waiting for a call from my father-in-law to see if, after my husband finished teaching his evening class, we had to make another midnight run to Tehachapi–or Bakersfield, depending on where my mother-in-law would be admitted.

What do you mean, her comments had nothing to do with what brought the protestors to the meeting??? Her experience with PRPD has everything to do with what is wrong with Lisa Solomon’s “leadership”. Failure to respond to and/or investigate criminal activity is the root of all the problems Paso is dealing with. When criminals know they can conduct business as usual with impunity, then crime will proliferate. Mrs. Brady lost her 21 year old son and no one was willing to investigate the incident. Losing crucial evidence should alert everyone to the fact that something is terribly amiss. If protestors only came because of allegations of a sexual nature, well, if that is what it takes to get people’s attention, then so be it. I tell you, that is just the tip of the iceberg. This city govt is corrupt to its core and you all better wake up to that fact and clean house, starting at the ballot box.

At one time taxpayers expected Law Enforcement, the Clergy and Educators to be
“a cut above the average joe”. I guess that is why we see .very few outraged by the behavior of our highly/over paid servants”. Is the personal example set by the chief
the example we want for our daughters?

Wait until the litigation starts. That will put a wrench into the chief’s gears. The city will suffer from the attention it will cause and LE work will suffer. Her employment days seemed to be numbered from the outside looking into this mess.

CCN might want to reflect on how the front row seats were stacked. It’s like a scene from some 1930’s backwater town showcased in a movie.

Who was the guy who stepped up to the mike with the bad toupee? You could tell he does not know Solomon by him saying all the allegations were false accusations…. Also I think one of the people who spoke in her defense is a drinking partner. I also thought I saw the ex-chief Cassidy there but he did not speak. He was there to see fireworks but that did not happen.

Some of the allegations have been corroborated by her staff in interviews. Once the city has the completed report before them they will make the correct decision. As i have mentioned in past postings: it’s one thing to break city rules, regs, and CA law but when you cover it up as she and her staff did that leads to an Honest and Integrity issue. Needless to say this is truly the issue here not the fact she may have bared all to see and groped a couple small weiners.

If you do not have/possess Honesty and Integrity you have no business in Law Enforcement, much less being a leader of a department. From what I hear that place has the potential to be one of the best places to work on the Central Coast with a new building and near space age equipment but it will continue to flounder under it’s current leadership.

As for you bloggers who did not show up in red, stay off the computer until you grow a set!

If the “completed report” is from an investigator the City or its agents had any role in choosing, then the report will have only the findings the City wants it to have. That’s how it works.

Also, if you applied the same rule to all posters–that they must appear at public meetings or not post at all–there would be very few message boards left on the internet because a miniscule portion of posters would qualify.

You don’t know what goes on in the personal lives of posters. To arbitrarily assign a requirement, for message board participation, as you have, is wrong.

“Several of the speakers seemed ill prepared with one man saying, “I do not know what I am supposed to say,”

Yeah, he said that right after he said he was there to support Lisa Solomon !!! Most other support statements began with, ” Lisa is my friend” ! What a joke, and since when is it appropriate to reserve public seats for city staff ? The city is obviously scared and took a page from the Wal-Mart book on how to take over, control and intimidate the opposition during a public meeting. The difference is that Wal-Mart only tried it but the citizens held their ground and over 100 spoke out anyway. In Paso Robles, the city manager pulled it off because it was about the police and show of force worked. I’m glad I don’t live in Paso Robles, I would be compelled to get involved beyond spectating and blogging.

Wait, you are involved as evidenced right here in this forum. Could it be that you just didn’t want to speak because you might feel foolish.

Of course you would make more out of a guy that stood up and said that he supported Solomon but didn’t know what else to say. So what, he didn’t know what to say he simply wanted to show his support for Solomon. Many Many people hate public speaking, give em a break.

My goodness, I’ve never seen a group of adults read between the lines so much. The city council is conspiring by loading the council chambers, the people that spoke were plants. If this wasn’t so crazy and peoples reputations weren’t involved it would hysterical.

BTW, I didn’t see a sea of red in the audience or the hallway. This morning KSBY showed a close-up of a very miserable looking young man in a plaid shirt holding up a sign standing with an attractive young lady with a scarf around her neck. I wonder if they were part of the mob from CCN?? Just so you know, most meetings like this don’t allow signs so if it were so fixed they could have easily taken your signs or made you leave them in the hallway.

1. LOL. If there is one thing I am not afraid of doing, that would be public speaking. At various times in my life, including quite recently, I was paid to do it.

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2. HYPOCRITE.

TYPQUEEN SAYS, WHILE READING BETWEEN THE LINES: “Wait, you are involved as evidenced right here in this forum. Could it be that you just didn’t want to speak because you might feel foolish.
Of course you would make more out of a guy that stood up and said that he supported Solomon but didn’t know what else to say. So what, he didn’t know what to say he simply wanted to show his support for Solomon. Many Many people hate public speaking, give em a break.”

TYPOQUEEN SAYS IMMEDIATELY AFTER: “My goodness, I’ve never seen a group of adults read between the lines so much.”

Hmm okay. At least I don’t make up excuses, if I had wanted to go to this meeting and had a family member that was sick I would have simply went to the meeting and then left if I needed to go. What’s the difference between waiting at home for a phone call or waiting at a meeting for text if you’re that passionate about this?

You are reading between the lines because you keep on about how anyone that wants to hear more factual information must be on Solomon’s side of this issue, because a guy gets up and simply states that he supports Solomon but he doesn’t know what else to say, that it’s a big plot by the city because they had reserved seats, the list goes on. That’s truly reading between the lines. I was simply asking why you didn’t want to speak at the meeting, was it because you were afraid of being foolish, that was an inquiry not reading between the lines.

“There’s nothing to stop you from getting involved.
Do it do it do it!”

I can honestly say that I didn’t read past the part of your post where you asked if I would feel foolish. The answer is “yes I would feel foolish”. I have been very involved in my own city of Atascadero in the past. I have been involved in organizing the largest turn out that city hall has ever seen, over 500 people showed up. A group of 5 of us organized that, we can all take credit for it as it would never have happened but for the 5 of us hitting the streets, taking names and developing a “contact” database of the local opposition . I have taken the podium many times in Atascadero. I have even sued them in the past and ended up settling after a long expense battle. Some would call me an excellent Citizen and others would call me a big pain in the ass.

With that said, the one thing I always took offense to was listening to an “out of towner” (not from A-Town) take the podium and start telling “US” A-Town residents and taxpayers how we should be doing things in our back yards. I wouldn’t feel right telling Paso Robles how to conduct their own business, that’s up to the Paso Robles taxpayers.

I understand about the out-of-towners. The other type of commentator who is most appreciated [ROLLS EYES] is the one who starts off with “I’ve lived here for 2 days now and I’m gonna tell you how to fix this town’s problems.”

But I think there is value in out-of-towners speaking, even if their opinion doesn’t carry as much weight.

They can simply say “I’m from East Jesus, Idaho, and I am here this evening in support of my [friend, sister, family, etc.] who is very concerned about the degradation of the city. Thank you.”

Or they can say something like, “I don’t live here, but I would like to speak out against the alleged problems in Paso Robles, because those kinds of problems occur in many cities, and usually the problems cause other problems which don’t stop at the city’s borders.”

Politics is the art of controlling reality. That’s what the city did here. What else could anybody have expected? They took all the measures that they could think of to control public perception of a situation. In short, it was staged.

Touché.

Anybody who thinks that getting up in front of a crowd and accusing a police chief of moral turpitude is not “intimidating” is off his rocker.

One notices, however, that it was quite a different reality from that which dominates this forum. Which is closer to the truth?

QUOTNIG THE ARTICLE: “Prior to opening the council chamber meeting room doors, city staffers placed reserved signs on the first four rows of public seats which were then primarily occupied by city employees and Solomon supporters. A half an hour before the meeting was slated to begin, the council room was filled to capacity and city staffers began telling people attempting to attend that they needed to listen to the meeting in a hallway or reception area.”

You mean, the meeting was rigged.

And legal counsel allowed that to occur?

This is completely outrageous. It is very similar to when the City of Bell residents started showing up to the meetings and the council and their attorneys would closed the meeting for fabricated reasons, or, my favorite, MOVE the location of the meeting at the last minute so the residents could not participate.

This is what the City of PR is doing: blocking the participation of the PR citizens, and stacking the meeting with supporters.

The numbers of supporters didn’t “swell.” The numbers of supporters were given highly preferential access to the meeting.

With the City of Bell, it was when the city council started impeding the access to meetings of its citizens that the State Auditor got busy. Hopefully, this blatant demonstration of corruption will be the tipping point in PR’s case.

Sure, the meeting was rigged. The implication just had to be left hanging out there because this site would never do something like say flat out that the meeting was rigged. Do you actually think about what you’re writing and how out of touch it makes you sound? Was anyone denied the right to speak? Was anyone unable to hear what happened at the meeting? All the red-wearing “fire App and Solomon” zealots simply didn’t turn out. Trying to argue that their views were somehow oppressed by the city seems like a big stretch, even under a CCN skewed report on the meeting.

P.S. City of Bell. City of Bell. City of Bell. (I just wanted to say it more times in my post than you did in yours.)

OldNed, The Paso Robles residents who attended the City Council meeting were not prepared for what they encountered and the city manager knew exactly what he was doing which is why he organized and designed the meeting the way he did, right down to all the uniforms and loading down the front rows. He also put the word out that all city personnel were to attend. . They arranged for the first group of speakers to be Salomon supporters and this was all designed as an intimidation tactic.

Sure you can all speak, see the cops and all her friends steering at you???? What do you have to say about this “TOP COP” who is surrounded by a bunch of other cops?? Come on up here, tell us your name and say something, come up, come on, what are you waiting for???

I know exactly what they did, Apps and the CC know what they did and SO DO YOU..

For you and TQ, “proof,” “facts” and attendance at a meeting are required ONLY from those with whom you don’t agree. For those who did not attend the meeting, no matter what cause, in Pasodude-TQ land, they have no right to opine about the meeting.

Why don’t you ask TQ whether it attended? Then tell her she has no right to have an opinion about the meeting its answer is no?

When you say “they arranged the first group of speakers” do you mean when he asked whom would like to speak, please step up to the podium to be heard? Again I was there, there were many times he had to ask please step up to the podium, not because people were pushing their way up, because people weren’t walking up. I never saw anyone pushed out of line, or run up to the podium to be first. The only intimadation of others that I have seen so far is on this blog.. The only reason that the people did not speak, is they chose not to. By the way I am not a city employee, I was not forced to attend, I went to show support for my community. I love Paso Robles, I love living here and have concerns about my city. I don’t agree with all decisions that have been made so I am stepping up and being involved.

Arranging that the meeting be segregated–employees and others supporting Solomon in the front, everyone else in the back–facilitated having the supporters speak first. In addition, ensuring that those ordered out of the back of the facility and into a hall physically separated them from the meeting, and would make it more difficult for them to speak out publicly against Solomon.

For most people, speaking in public is intimidating on its own. However, having to access the podium by first entering the facility and then walk up from the back to access the podium, makes it more intimidating.

As I said before, this meeting was rigged to give preferential access to the city council to those who were supportive of the actions of the council, city manager and chief of police. They did it in many ways, both subtle and outright.

Miss Brody and Mrs. Brady were not intimidated, because they have been victims of the more endemic roots of corruption in PRPD. Their comments should give pause to the citizens of Paso…this Solomon broad is destroying your city and your safety.

Perhaps I’m “out of touch” to Ned-Land, but certainly not out-of-touch when it comes to political activism.

Read my post before you comment on it.

The city had the advantage by having its toadies easily accessible for organization. They were already organized. Then these folks contacted their pals.

In fact, I bet the majority of this organization of the toadies occurred during work hours, using work resources. How many emails about this would we find on the PR computer server?

Many of these “supporters” of Lisa-the-Penis-Groper had vested interests in keeping current leadership in place in PR. The employees–that’s a given. But also, how many of those “supporters” are contractors, suppliers, or otherwise the recipients of the city’s favors?

This was the first time an attempt at organization against the corruption in PR occurred.

If you expected unicorns, moonbeams, and a 50-piece marching band, I think you set the bar rather high for the protesters.

The opposition had, at their fingertips, high-profile leadership who had access to the press at the snap of their fingers, a communication center in place, and access to other organizers in the workplace. Their organization most undoubtedly occurred while they were being paid by the city. AND they were ensured VIP seating at the meeting, relegating the protesters to the back of the bus.

In addition, the corrupt leadership holds considerable power over those who have vested interests in supporting the corruption in PR government. Retaliation appears to be considered a Best Management Practice in the PR city government. Don’t you think there would be reprisals against the city workers, contractors, etc. who didn’t show up at the meeting?

Considering all of that, I think the 3-to-9 ratio of speakers was a success for the protesters and a slap in the face for the toadies supporting the corruption in Paso Robles government. Especially when one of the speakers was clearly the equivalent of a cardboard cutout, who only knew to say he supports Lisa, and then had to turn to his handlers in the crowd to ask for help in what else to say.

And its too dammed bad if you don’t like hearing the comparison to the City of Bell. I bet the City of PR government and its toadies will be tired of hearing it before this is done and over. So you will be in perfect company.

“In fact, I bet the majority of this organization of the toadies occurred during work hours, using work resources. How many emails about this would we find on the PR computer server?”

“In fact”,,really, where’s the beef, where is this ‘fact’? Take a breath Mary, step back and look at your statement. More silly allegations, you are really fishing again. Unfortunately fishing isn’t your forte, perhaps a different sport might work out better.

“Many of these “supporters” of Lisa-the-Penis-Groper had vested interests in keeping current leadership in place in PR. The employees–that’s a given. But also, how many of those “supporters” are contractors, suppliers, or otherwise the recipients of the city’s favors?”

Just when I asked how low you could go I read that first line of yours, pathetic, really classy.
So let me get this straight, the city is like Mafia, they twisted the arms of contractors and suppliers to get them to support Lisa. If I were of those people I’d be incredibly insulted by that.

LOL oh yeah this is just like the City of Bell. Bell Bell Bell Bell, do you hear bells in your head all the time? Just curious.

Sorry Mary but if you can be so insulting to others a bit of teasing shouldn’t hurt you.

You are ridiculous, in addition to being a hypocrite, you apply own misinterpretations of common phrases to criticize another poster.

BTW, you might want to state whether you were at the meeting or not last night. Pasodude will base his willingness to credit your opinions on the meeting based on your answer.

I would bet you, Lisa Solomon and the City of PR leadership would very much like the comparisons to the corrupt City of Bell to stop. Unfortunately, the comparisons are valid.

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QUOTING ONLINE DICTIONARY:“Definition for in fact:
in reality or actuality; “in fact, it was a wonder anyone survived”; “painters who are in fact anything but unsophisticat…
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

What the f…what do you mean the meeting was rigged? If you are referring to saving seats, that’s not that uncommon. I am a somewhat of a community activist, I usually save some seats for people that I know are coming to a BOS, city council, school board or what ever it might be, especially if I know there’s going to be a big crowd and my friends will usually do the same. We don’t want to sit with people that oppose our position. It’s silly to try and read something into this. It’s nothing like closing a meeting or moving it at the last minute. How did saving some seats block participation? I’ve been to school board meetings where I’ve had to stand out in the hall but that didn’t stop me or anyone from speaking.

The way that some of you are portraying Solomons supporters is really insulting to them. I saw some of them on the news, they seemed genuine, they’ve done nothing to demonstrate that they are ‘in the fix’ or that they are disingenuous as some here are insinuating.

There is a difference between one citizen saving a seat for a friend, and the City of PR providing VIP seating for their toadies.

I refer you again to the article: “Prior to opening the council chamber meeting room doors, city staffers placed reserved signs on the first four rows of public seats which were then primarily occupied by city employees and Solomon supporters.

The city provided VIP seating to its supporters and relegated the protesters to the back of the bus.

If the VIP seating would have been saved for white folks and the back-of-the-bus seating only been available to black folks, the impact would have been the same: providing preferential access to city government to one group of people, rigging the outcome of the meeting in the favor of the city government.

Did you really think the local broadcast news–which has ignored and denigrated this story since day #1–would show the pro-corruption speaker who said “I support Lisa, I don’t know what else to say” then turned to his handlers to find out what else he was supposed to say?

This wasn’t a case of people saving seats, the first two rows were “saved”, not by individuals but by the city for people speaking for Lisa. Then the number of police and firemen in attendance, and police cars parked out front made it look as it the city was hunkering down to protect its own. .

The people speaking for Lisa said that they had never seen any inappropriate behavior and that she was professional or that she was a friend or neighbor. One guy is still trying to suck up to the police after he got on their bad side by complaining that they kept fining him for a legal sandwich board sign for his business.

I’ve seen this before (saving rows of seats), again I think you guys are making too big a deal out something that happens frequently. It has no bearing on whether people could get up and speak against Solomon.

For the record, in all of the board and city council meetings I have attended, I’ve never seen city staff, or anyone, save rows of seats so that the pro-city-government attendees could have preferential seating.

I would think residents of PR would be furious at this very obvious message being sent by the City Council and city management: “The residents of Paso Robles are second-class citizens, and their opinions on what is going on in the city carry less weight than the opinions of the city employees whose salaries the residents pay.”

No, Ned. The city always had the organizational advantage in getting people to the meeting. They have the employees all together in the workplace so they can easily organize. The fact that they organized seems apparent by the way they gave preferential access to a public meeting and PR’s elected council to the corruption-friendly speakers, and pulled a City-of-Bell move to those who want the corruption and mismanagement to stop.

If anyone wants to contact the state, the issue of preferential access to the council meeting, and the protesters were made to stand in the hall, will be an issue they will inspire the state to open an investigation in PR.

” corruption-friendly speakers,”,,,,,Mary, are you kidding me! How low can you go and I’m not referring to limbo. What an insulting comment. Neds right, it appears that Solomon has a lot of community support, you need to deal with that. Just because people support her doesn’t mean that they are all corrupt.

I would love for you guys to contact the state regarding saving seats. I would also love to see the faces of the people when they receive these little complaints. LOL oh yeah that will help your cause.

While it may make you feel better to describe it as “saving seats,” it was, in fact, the CITY OF PR providing preferential access to a city government meeting to one group of people, to the detriment of another group of people.

Well sue them then,,geez what a silly argument, is this all you’ve got? No one was stopped from speaking or listening to the meeting. I’m sorry that a few peoples feelings were hurt because they couldn’t sit in the front but they’ll get over it.

Of course it was PR and its vested interests who did it. Corruption must run deep in that town, just as it does in many another town across the fruited plain.

But Typoqueen doesn’t care about such tactics. She has this thing about “lynch mobs.” It must be an archetype which has surfaced and was triggered by this case. It has further been stimulated by this blog. It’s a fatal attraction.

Since you require attendance at the meeting to accept the opinions of other posters (except for TQ), you might want to hold your agreement with OldNed until you have heard him testify as to his whereabouts last night between 7:30 PM and meeting’s end.

Where has any evidence been presented on this blog? Maybe, just maybe, you can say the suit file by Officer Tatro is evidence so I’ll give you that. How about all the sexual assault allegations? Where is the evidence to support these allegations? Everything so far is simple heresay. Were there acts of sexual abuse? Maybe, I don’t know, I haven’t seen evidence supporting the claim. Were these allegations lodged by disgruntled employees that were justly terminated and have an ax to grind? Maybe, I don’t know yet. I haven’t seen evidence supporting that assumption either. So, I’ll not smear the Officers on an open forum such as this, nor will I smear Chief Solomon. I haven’t seen evidence to support either side yet.